Funding innovative and inclusive healthcare in Africa

PharmAccess won the Silver Award in an essay competition of the WorldBank/ International Finance Cooperation and the Financial Times, with the essay "A New Paradigm for Increased Access to Healthcare in Africa".

The article describes the need for a new approach to health care in Africa, to increase the effectiveness and productivity of healthcare delivery. This is essential in order to increase access to quality health care. Currently, almost all official development passes through public channels. This has to change according to the authors, Onno Schellekens, director PharmAccess, Joep Lange, chairman of PharmAccess and Professor of Internal Medicine, Center for Poverty-related Communicable Diseases (CPCD), AMC, UvA, Marianne Lindner, Senior policy advisor PharmAccess, and Jacques van der Gaag, Professor of Development economy UvA and Distinguished Visiting Fellow Brookings Institution in Washington DC.

The Minister of Development cooperation, Bert Koenders, was delighted to hear that the Health Insurance Fund and PharmAccess had won this prestigious award (see also the press release at the website of the Ministry). According to Minister Koenders the approach is exactly inline with the new philosophy of cooperation in international development. Bringing together the experience, the knowledge and the skills of the private sector with those of the public sector creates added value. Thus we can contribute more effectively to the Millennium Development Goals. Exactly this type of cooperation was the reason for the Schokland Agreements in June 2007.

One of the Schokland Agreements was created by the Health Insurance Fund and the Investment Fund for Health. The article explains that a good and efficiently organized insurance business and health care sector will attract private investors. One example of this is through the Investment Fund for Health in Africa, a private investment fund that aims to improve the quality of health care in Africa. The investment fund will invest in insurance companies, in health care providers, in the distribution of pharmaceutical and other medical supplies.

About the awards
The prizes were awarded for essays about innovative programs in the area of private sector development in developing countries. The theme for the competition was: “Private Sector Development: Creating Markets, Transforming Lives.” The competition was contested with some 750 submissions from 90 countries. The most important qualification criteria were: originality and innovation, implications for private sector and relevance to international audiences (such as economic and financial policymakers), the international financial community, international and domestic investors and the international donor community.